1:18 PM
Dinh Nam
It seems that the folks in Virginia are embracing "the tech:"
"By a unanimous vote, the Virginia State Legislature yesterday approved SB 675 mandating that health insurers pay for telemedicine services."
Currently, health insurance plans aren't required to cover these kinds of services, even though they may well reduce the cost of health care delivery. It's also a convenience for consumers, since it means one less trip to the doc (and perhaps one less co-pay). While I'm generally not a fan of benefits mandates, this one seems pretty benign and, unlike most (all?) others, could actually reduce health care costs.
This brings to an even dozen the number of states which have adopted this kind of coverage mandate.
Kind of adds a whole new dimension to "take two aspirin and call me in the morning."
[Hat Tip: Alice Watland]
10:08 AM
Dinh Nam
Good news for folks on "mini-COBRA" plans: Gov Strickland has signed a bill extending coverage eligibility for an additional 3 months (from 12 to 15).
Meanwhile, licensed agents got some welcome news: our mandatory CE requirements have increased only 17% (to 24 hours every 2 years). And, we now have an Ethics Requirement (previously, Ohio agents were considered so above reproach that this was deemed unncessary). The new regs require three hours of ethics education; there's also a new, mandatory federal background check for new licensees.
[Hat Tip: FoIB Nelson C]
6:51 AM
Dinh Nam
FoIB Julie Ferguson dropped us a note the other day that may be helpful to (at least) one IB reader:
"[W]e’ve been notified of a promising job opening that sounds perfect for one of our health wonks – or for someone you may know in the health policy wonkosphere – check it out:
The University of Pennsylvania’s Leonard Davis Institute for Health Economics (LDI) is seeking an individual who can combine an enthusiasm for the internet’s ability to convey information and guide national discourse with a demonstrated understanding of the nation’s trillion dollar health care system to create and guide a new issues-oriented, web-based environment reflecting the relevance, rigor, and vitality of LDI and its faculty.
The successful candidate will work closely with LDI’s Executive Director and senior members of its faculty to design, implement and develop its web-based product that will attract and inform LDI’s many constituencies including policymakers, thought leaders, the media, health care economists, and other stakeholders. In addition to developing content based on his or her original ideas, this individual will draw upon the work and shape the voices of LDI’s interdisciplinary faculty, as well as include experts outside the University of Pennsylvania to create a lively, informative, and highly-valued web-based periodical.
Bachelor’s degree required and 5+ years experience as a healthcare/health policy communications/marketing with a proven ability to develop and execute web-based projects. The successful candidate will have superior writing, editing, and verbal communication skills, as well as teamwork and project management experience.
For more information, see [CLICK HERE FOR APP] or contact Daniel Polsky."
11:00 AM
Dinh Nam
One of the fundamental problems with the current crop of health care "reform" (including the Wyden-Bennett "Healthy Americans Act") is that they do little or nothing to stem the cost of health care. This is something that's often overlooked as CongressCritters jockey for position (and headlines), and explicitly underscored by Rep Ryan at last week's Noh Theatre Production...er "Summit."
We've chronicled how consumer-centric (aka High Deductible, HSA-compliant) plans can actually reduce the cost of health care, while helping to rein in rising health insurance rates. In a Wall Street Journal article, Indiana Governor (and 2012 dark horse) Mitch Daniels reports on his own state's experience with these plans:
"When I was elected governor of Indiana five years ago, I asked that a consumer-directed health insurance option, or Health Savings Account (HSA), be added to the conventional plans then available to state employees ... What we ... have found is that individually owned and directed health-care coverage has a startlingly positive effect on costs for both employees and the state."
For one thing, there's been an immediate savings of some $8 million for employees who opted for the HSA (into which, by the way, the state plops almost $3000 per participating employee!); as Gov Daniels points out (and as we've noted here at IB), even folks with large claims see a net savings versus "phantom" plans.
Perhaps more importantly, because participants have "skin in the game," they're more likely to take better care of themselves, which is perhaps why "Indiana will save at least $20 million in 2010 because of our high HSA enrollment." The folks at Mercer Consulting (an independent health care and financial services research firm) confirm these tremendous savings, and the positive impact they've had on the cost of both health care and health insurance.
It's gratifying to see yet another example of how these lower cost, higher value health insurance plans may hold the key to solving at least part of the health care equation. Which leaves us wondering why ObamaCare© v?.0 seeks to do away with them.
As FoIB Brian D points out, there's a bigger issue here: if one indeed has a "right" to health care, then one has a corresponding responsibility to pay for it. What's happened with health care "reform" is that the first part of that equation has become a "right to have health care paid for by someone else." That's one of the primary appeals of products like HSA's: one is empowered both financially and morally to pay for one's own care.
Imagine that.
